


As the Worlds Burn

by sartiebodyshots



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F, Mass Effect 3, Priority: Thessia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-29 15:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8495914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sartiebodyshots/pseuds/sartiebodyshots
Summary: Shepard does her best to comfort Liara after Priority: Thessia.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for femslashbigbang and somehow I managed to publish it right on N7 day, go me.

Liara crawls into Shepard’s bed late, late at night.  After what happened at Thessia, Shepard hadn’t been certain that she would come up at all.  She had figured that Liara would forgo sleeping altogether, or else fall asleep standing.  

“Sorry for waking you,” Liara whispers.  

“I wasn’t asleep,” Shepard says.

She wishes she had more words to comfort Liara.  But she doesn’t.

“I was with you on Palaven’s moon and saw Garrus struggling to save his homeworld.  On Tuchanka, right under the Reaper’s legs.  I saw the news reports from Earth and Ashley and James’ faces right afterwards,” Liara sounds confused, like she’s trying to piece something together.  “Your face, on all those worlds, with all the responsibility on your shoulders.  Samara’s face as she watched her daughter die, which must be like watching a homeworld burn, but worse.  Yet… standing on Thessia was unlike anything I could ever have imagined.  Watching it die.”

Shepard stares up at space, so crystal clear through the window above her bed.  There are more stars than she can count, orbited by more planets than she can imagine.  Most of them are lifeless- or at least don’t have sentient life- and they’ll be lifeless again if she can’t stop the Reapers and their cycle.  

“Thessia’s not dying,” Shepard says with hollow uncertainty.  

“Shepard, you were there.  Thessia has fallen to the Reapers,” Liara says, voice twisting in despair.  She sounds so much tireder than she did a few hours ago, and so much older than she did a day ago.  

“But the beauty and the-” Shepard struggles to find the right word.  “-The  _ soul _ of Thessia isn’t in the planet.  It’s in the asari.  As long as turians and salarians and krogan and humans and asari fight, then our home planets can never be lost.  Even though they’re important, our strength isn’t our planets.  It’s our people.”

Liara pulls herself closer to Shepard.  “Do you really believe that?  Or is it another platitude?  Because it feels like all anyone has done is give me platitudes.”

“I grew up on ships.  One after another.  Most of them are long gone.  Some retired, some destroyed, like the first Normandy.  My six month imprisonment on Earth was about half of the time I’ve spent there my whole life.  So I don’t know what it is to lose a homeworld, not really, but I do know that it’s who we are as peoples that make us stronger.  Worlds are tiny in comparison.  Less than that.  They’re nothing,” Shepard says.  “Maybe that’s a wrong thing to say when your girlfriend’s world is burning.  I dunno.”

Liara laughs.  It’s a pained, pathetic excuse for a laugh, even more pained because her throat must be raw from crying.  At least it’s something.

“I’m pretty sure that it must be the wrong thing to say,” Liara says.  “But it’s better than platitudes.” 

“They do get old,” Shepard agrees.

There’s quiet for a while, but neither of them are even pretending to sleep.  

“We don’t even have ourselves,” Liara finally says.  

“What?” Shepard says.

“Our religion, our advancement, all of our accomplishments.  They all came from the Protheans,” Liara says.  “Humans are still who they are.  Your accomplishments are still your own doing.  My people never accomplished anything on our own.”

“Hey, hey, now that’s not true,” Shepard says, frowning at this turn of conversation.  

This time, the laugh is bitter.  

“You were in the temple, Shepard.  Athame, Janiri, and Lucen were all Prothean!  They gave us everything.  By the goddess, given what we’ve seen from Javik, our melding abilities are definitely from them, too.  That is the entire basis for our religion,” Liara says.  “We’re second rate Protheans.”

“The asari are what the asari decided to be.  If you were second rate Protheans, you would’ve conquered the galaxy, and we wouldn’t have the chance we have now.  We wouldn’t have our diversity.  All we would have is the asari empire and ruin, like what happened to the Protheans,” Shepard insists.  

“Maybe…” Liara sighs.  “This has been a very long day.”

“It has been,” Shepard agrees.  

“I’m sorry if I was brusque or out of line earlier.  Most of what happened on Thessia and after is a blur,” Liara says.  “And I know you.  I know this weighs on you, in so many ways.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Shepard says.  “Nothing at all.”

“Neither do you,” Liara says.  

“Don’t worry about me,” Shepard says.  “Not tonight.”

They did just leave Thessia in flames, after all.  She’s not the one in need of comforting tonight, at least not from Liara.  Everyone else on the Normandy is doing their damndest to take care of them both, after all.

“Okay.  Not tonight,” Liara agrees, nodding against her chest.  “Tomorrow?”

Shepard gives a strangled giggle.  The cost of this war is too high, far too high.  “You can wait a few days.”

“We’ll see, Shepard.  We’ll see.”


End file.
